Studio Sessions
WTF
with Nicole Seisler
April 2026
About the Studio Session
WTF: What the function? What’s the difference between utilitarian and functional? Do functions of clay include to connect, to listen, to absorb, or to restate history? How do ceramic objects animate the interconnectedness of the world with/in which we reside? But also, what the fuck, how do we function as makers in a dysfunctional world? In this Studio Session, we reframe and expand the meaning of functional ceramics in the contemporary field.
About the Lead Artist
Three interdependent, mutually-reinforcing areas comprise Nicole’s practice: making, educating, and curating. This tripod enables each aspect to support the others, thereby creating a platform for her broader, pluralistic vision for ceramics as a conceptual field.
Nicole Seisler received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and her BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She has exhibited her work at museums ranging from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the Museum of Fine Arts Tallahassee to the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and Craft Contemporary in Los Angeles. Her work was recently featured in a solo exhibition at Das Schaufenster in Seattle, and two-person exhibitions at the Kennedy Museum at Ohio University, and Hide and Seek Gallery in Portland OR.
Nicole has taught ceramics for almost fifteen years at as many universities — from SAIC and the University of Washington, to Scripps College and UCLA — and she is currently Assistant Professor and Head of Ceramics at Lewis & Clark College in Portland OR.
Logistics
This session is scheduled for Sundays, April 5, 12, 19, & 26 from 10am-noon PST (that’s Los Angeles time).
Registration is $320 and includes all four sessions.
Participants gather via Zoom.